Cincinnati: Wymyn stage a fake ordination at Episcopalian church. Reminder of we should do about it.

Some wymyn played priest the other day in Cincinnati. My friend Fr. Martin Fox, a real priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, is all over this.

What I found curious about this is that the news report at WCPO TV said that the wymyn didn’t want the name of the church where the offensive sham “ordination” took place to be revealed because they were afraid of “backlash”.

They are being so “prophetic” that they want to keep it all hush hush.

The womyn who was the receiving faker during this role-playing experiment was Paula Hoeffer. By coincidence, there is a Paula Hoeffer who once taught 1st grade at Nativity School in Cincinnati, which is part of Nativity parish. You decide if they are the same person. The staff page of the school doesn’t include Mrs. Hoeffer, though an old page does.

The WPCO item is entitled “VIDEO: Married former nun talks to WCPO about becoming priest”. In the WPCO story we read that her husband “Ed, left the priesthood to marry her.”

It seems that the fake ordination ceremony in an Episcopalian church. It seems that the church is All Saints. They have a really interesting staff at All Saints. They do all sorts of curious things there. There is a page that has the invitation to this fake event. HERE

I wonder what sort of backlash they are worrying about at All Saints Episcopal?

[I]n allowing this group of fakers into their churches, the Protestants are accepting the premise that what the women are doing in there actually is a Catholic ordination and Mass.

How dare PROTESTANTS decide what a Catholic Mass is?

And if they respond, “Gee, we mean no disrespect. We are just giving space to this group”, then what they are doing is aiding a protest against the Catholic Church.

There is no way around this. Protestants who give these fakers aid are either on their side, and thus support their claim that what they are doing really is an ordination and Mass, or in claiming not to be taking sides they are still giving support to an anti-Catholic protest.

“But Father! But Father!”, you are certainly saying by now, “There really isn’t anything we can do about this! They can do what they like in their churches and we are powerless!”

I respond: We are not powerless. Bishops must act.

Imagine that some women-priest fakers have a sacrilegious ceremony at, say, St. Swithan-by-the Slough Episcopal Church – or whatever Protestant church – in Tall Tree Circle, within in the territory of the Catholic Diocese of Black Duck.

Upon hearing the news that this ceremony is going to take place (or has taken place), the Catholic Bishop of Black Duck must call the pastor of that Protestant parish and say, “I’m the Catholic Bishop. Do not allow this sacrilege to be committed in your church.” (Mutatis mutandis, if it already happened of course.) He goes on to say, “You wouldn’t do this for a group of dissident Jews wanting to ordain rabbis, but we are Catholics so you don’t care what offense you give us. Until an apology is issued, don’t look for us to dialogue with you again.”

Then the Catholic Bishop of Black Duck calls the head of the denomination, the Episcopalian Bishop of the zone or whomever they have depending on the group, and unloads the same message.

Then the Catholic Bishop sends informative notes to the USCCB’s ecumenical office, to the CDF and to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in order to let them know the facts about the the sacrileges against our most sacred rites and sacraments that were committed – with their help – in their church.

Then you call the press.

“But FATHER!” some of you are saying, all aghast and aflutter, “That’s… that’s… isn’t that over the top? Isn’t that a terrible over-reaction? You’ll hurt ecumenism! Shouldn’t we take the high road? Turn the other cheek? Be nice! Your response should be, I dunno, more proportionate!”

I respond: “PIFFLE! BULL PIFFLE!”

Protestants invite or permit sacrilege and anti-Catholic protest in their church and, when we say we don’t like it, Catholics are guilty of slowing down ecumenism? I. Think. NOT.

And as for a “proportionate response”, what would that be?

You want a “proportionate response”? Here’s a proportionate response!

Given that we are talking about the most sacred rites we have, a proportionate response would have to be something like a special service in the Cathedral of Black Duck. There would be a prayer of reparation for the sacrilege at St. Swithan-by-the Slough, a sermon about the theological errors of their sect, and prayers for the mercy of God on their souls lest they go to Hell. There would be handouts about the true teaching of the Church on Holy Mass and Holy Orders and, also, true ecumenism, articles in the local diocesan newspaper describing the errors of the sect and that they are not a true Church in the sense recognized by the Catholic Church. There would be weeks of sermons in every pupit of the Diocese of Black Duck…. Get the drift? That’s proportionate.

The response of my fictional Bishop of Black Duck is actually pretty mild compared to a proportionate response.

Take the higher road? Okay, let’s do. Let’s take the high road of true ecumenism. Let’s start by not lying to each other and committing sacrilege against what others hold sacred.

True ecumenism does not consist in lying down and letting some other church kick you and define what Mass is for you, or say who can be ordained, or stick their “F-You” finger in your face when letting in these sacrilegious fakers.

As I mentioned, Fr. Fox is on this. He has directed some questions to the rectoress of All Saints Episcopal in Cincinnati. Hopefully, he will hear something back from her soon.

I pray that all these people, the catholics, will repent of the grave sins they committed and seek reconciliation with the Church. Their souls are in danger. I pray that the Episcopalians will repent of their terrible offense and issue an apology.

UPDATE 20 May:

Another crunchy tidbit from this wymyn story. This appears on Nativity Parish’s website, under “Sites of Interest“:

All Saints Episcopal Church: www.allsaintscincinnati.org

For decades (since the days of Archbishop Bernardin) the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord and All Saints Episcopal Church have shared common ministries together and were both instrumental in the founding of the Caring Place at Kennedy Heights Presbyterian Church. In the 1960s, both parishes worked together to stem the “white flight” that was happening in neigborhoods surrounding our parish, and we worked hard to keep Pleasant Ride and Kennedy Heights integrated. We value our historic covenant with All Saints Episcopal Church.

UPDATE:

A reader sent a link to a parish bulletin at Nativity where Mrs. Paula Hoeffer has been, at one point, a school teacher. Apparently, as late as January 2014 she, the former woman religious, and her husband, the ex-priest, have both been lectors at Mass.

Cincinnati: Wymyn stage a fake ordination at Episcopalian church. Reminder of we should do about it.

When the organization Roman Catholic Womenpriests did something like this, Archbishop Vlazny felt inclined to ignore it as a Protestant service, until they falsely publicized the event in the Oregonian (Portland’s major newspaper) as an ordination of Roman Catholic priests. (I can no longer find his column in the archdiocesan newspaper, but I would like to repost what I have already posted to this blog in the past):

“On Friday, Aug. 17, the Oregonian reported on a religious ceremony at Zion United Church of Christ in Gresham which was described as a Roman Catholic “ordination.” According to the report, we now have the first woman Roman Catholic priest in Oregon.

Most readers, hopefully, were somewhat suspicious about the event when they learned it did not take place in a Catholic church. Out of respect for those involved in the ceremony, I had decided to make no public statement. The Oregonian also said nothing for three weeks.

My main purpose in speaking up now is to assure you that there was no ordination of a Roman Catholic priest at Zion United Church of Christ in Gresham on July 28. Even though Catholics were involved, the claim that it was a Catholic ceremony is wrong but, hopefully, not intentionally disrespectful of a sacrament which we Catholics regard as a precious treasure, one for which we are called to exercise reverent and faithful stewardship.

Our relationships with other churches are sometimes fragile because of differences in beliefs and values. But in all ecumenical relationships Christian churches do their best to respect the diversity in practices and beliefs. I regret the apparent disregard for this understanding.

Any person who claims to have been ordained a Catholic bishop, priest or deacon without the proper authorization from church authorities not only is making a false representation of the facts but also by such an act leaves our church community. We are always saddened when sisters and brothers walk away from us, particularly in this manner. We continue to work and pray for unity in the essentials of our Christian faith and for charity and mutual respect in circumstances where we disagree.”

Archbishop Vlazny also wrote another piece on sacramental integrity that was very good. It included this, particularly apropos on this day when the court struck down the one-man-one-woman definition of marriage put into the Oregon Constitution by her voters:
“….recent years the media has informed us about the so-called “ordination of women priests.” There are those who proclaim that it’s a matter of justice that women be allowed into the priesthood. Jesus was clearly an agent for justice in his time and he did not call women to the apostolic ministry as he did the twelve apostles. Priests share in that apostolic ministry with their bishops.

Certainly a woman can pretend to be a priest. There are also many men who pretend to be priests but who are not ordained validly, let alone legitimately. But because they claim to be priests and are talented and generous, many choose to accept them as priests and participate in their alleged sacramental celebrations. This is a serious blow to the sacramental integrity which is a hallmark of our church.

In recent times marriage as we know it has been challenged to the limit. People presume that civil marriage can be whatever civil society wants it to be in this present age of secularism and relativism. But that is not how marriage has been understood over the centuries both by civil society and by the church. This matter is all the more significant for us Catholics because in our community marriage is a sacrament, the love of husband for wife mirroring the love of Christ for his spouse, the church. Even if civil society acknowledges same-sex marriage as legitimate, this is impossible for the church. Because we also see this as harmful to family life, we speak out against such civil marriages and we certainly work to preserve the integrity of sacramental marriage. …”

Thinking that the sound of crickets will be louder than the responsed from the Episcopal ‘prioress’

Protestant sects were founded on a lie and in contrary nature to the True Faith. Why expect them to deny their vary nature and NOT take the opportunity to try and sitck their finger (figuratively) in the eye of the Church?

Thank you Fr. Z. If your righteous indignation at sacrilege could only catch on, we might get somewhere, or at least, go down fighting, which would be better than no response. It would be wonderful if it unfolds just as you say.
The people in that entire area need to get involved and be heard, supporting the diocese in addressing this and complaining loudly and often, to the Episcopal leadership, until this gets addressed in such a way as to be sure it won’t happen again there. That will get to other Episcopal leaders. Of course, we can contact our local Episcopal churches and let them know we are upset about it as well. This all is harmful to interfaith dialogue and relationships.
Silence or pretending it didn’t happen or looking the other way doesn’t do anything but embolden.
You can’t be a doormat unless first you like down.

Aye, they must, and all too often, there’s the rub. My own bishop has lately come out publicly against the “new” translation of the liturgy. Circumspect in his wording, he yet managed to convey his notion that the translation is a failure.

I remain unable to understand why formal excommunication seems so seldom to be imposed? Does it not represent a loving correction? An opportunity for the wayward to finally realize how seriously they have gone astray? Latae sententiae is all very well, but how, excatly, does it address the public scandal which is misleading to so many whose understanding of Church teaching is shallow?

Similarly, Canon 915 exists for a reason, and surely not to be ignored.

@OrthodoxChick, no need for Bishop to excommunicate womynpriesties because participation in an attempt to ordain a woman automatically confers the excommunication; anyone at that event qualifies which is why they don’t announce them. I spoke with the consort of an alleged womynpriest at one time and his theological contortions were crazy; he spoke of “my theology” and “your theology” ignoring that Catholic theology belongs to all and that their rationalizations are clearly that as they hide the locations of their alleged masses and alleged ordinations as they claim to have church employees in their groups who would lose their jobs on account of public support given to the alleged activities.

@Heather, I know, right? We all wound Christ but priests and nuns who quit to get married create public wounds, then that she compounds it by thinking she knows better than the Church who may be ordained a priest. It’s like these women have some sort of deep-seated anatomy-based envy. Just the other day a friend wanted to know why women couldn’t be ordained even if they really, really wanted to be priests. I asked if she thought those priests who were ordained were priests because it was their idea. Silence.

A small amount of searching showed the woman fauxordained [Well said!] as a “deacon”, Kathleen McShane Bean, is an attendee of Living Beatitudes Community in Dayton, Ohio, a ministry of the local chapter of the pro-homosexual organization “Dignity” which hosts liturgies presided over by laicized priests. 9 members of LBC attended the purported “ordination.” Dignity is also very big at the breakaway sect with a priestless so called “eucharist” service near Madison, Holy Wisdom Monastery. Dignity is associated broadly with the phenomenon of radical types breaking away from the Catholic Church to form new sects with significantly different basic beliefs. “protestantism nuveau”

It is important to make clear that those women purported to be ordained deacons do not actually validly receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. In the early church there were women with a commission to serve as “deaconesses” but who did not receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders, which is specific to conforming a man to the person of Jesus Christ for sacramental ministry. Cardinal Muller of the CDF has said “One would have to prove that a specific, non-sacramental ministry for women analogous to that of women deacons in the Early Church was necessary today.” He doesn’t think that is needed.

I thought they kept the identity of this place a secret. I know exactly where this church is. And the irony? It has some sort of “covenant” arrangement (or at least did for many years) with an “enlightened” Catholic parish just down the street.

If you go to the WCPO website, there is an additional interview with Mrs. Hoeffel. It is revealing.

She describes her theological formation. (I am not making this up.) To prepare to be ordained a deacon, she spent a year writing “five papers.” Then, for another year, another “five papers.” “We read lots of books.” What are the topics she wrote about? “Sacraments,” and “what it means to be called to priesthood” and “what it means to serve others.” Her total preparation was two-and-a-half years.

One word: she. Sue the Protestant church that was involved and also the femails involved. They are damaging the brand which is “Roman Catholic” by their bastardizing of our Rites. The pro test ants surely have SOME money…

Thank You Fr. for linking to the Nativity Parish site itself. As person can obtain a pretty good feel of the outlook that this parish, or any other parish, has from perusing its “Sites of Interest” page.

@Fr Martin Fox, she has no clue of a priests education, has she? I don’t really either; however, I just finished a 2-year catechetical institute at the local Catholic seminary where the seminarians are part of our class. For me, the best part is that seminarians are no longer abstract as they were in our class and each term there was a seminarian in my small group who knew so much more than the rest of us did, with the exception of a young woman who is a convert and studying theology. But this class is supposed to give us greater grounding in our faith so that we can be better Catholics. Our major text was the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Regular old run-of-the-mill Catholics who go to Mass and stuff. Not crazy people who think it’s okay to walk away from what Holy Mother Church teaches us.

The funny thing is that women want to be priests because they perceive the priest as being in a position of power but that men end up being priests when it was never their idea so they know the power isn’t in the priest but in the priesthood as handed down through the ages.

Doing some digging on the people involved in this “ordination”, the thing I notice the most is their IGNORANCE. These women know nothing about the Catholic Church they’re so desperate to force this on.

Not much I can add to what has been said already, except that I hope the Catholics in Slough aren’t too miffed by the reference to the fictional St. Swithun’s.

The All Saints staff page says it all – not a man in sight and the vulgar little muticoloured striped banner at the bottom. It just so happened that I had this playing when I clicked on that page. It is the perfect antidote – real men and a real rainbow.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mglw77ZqkLo

How can they claim to love Our Lord Jesus Christ, the most marvellous man ever?

wmeyer says: My own bishop has lately come out publicly against the “new” translation of the liturgy. Circumspect in his wording, he yet managed to convey his notion that the translation is a failure.

That some prelates, ever zealous for innovation and “relevance,” might cling to the original ICEL translation and its amorphous “dynamic equivalence” is sad but understandable. That they seem oblivious to the effects of its poisonous miasma — of which this latest mischief in Cincinnati is arguably one — is also sad and, at least to me, less understandable.

Father, kudos to you and Fr. Fox for the good work in shedding light on this sacrilege.

As a matter of context, I wonder if the lack of respect shown by All Saints Episcopal toward the Catholic Church might be reflective of the seeming death-throes that the entire ecclesial community is undergoing, especially in Ohio.

To lose a quarter of your adherents in a decade, IMO, doesn’t seem to bode well for the organization’s future, especially since the average Sunday attendance for the entire Episcopal diocese of Southern Ohio is less than, I would imagine, the average Sunday attendance for Fr Fox’s parish alone, much less the larger suburban Catholic parishes around Cincinnati.

Could it be that their lack of respect for the teachings of the Church reflects the behavior of a cornered animal?

St. Matthew’s in the ECUSA parish in Brecksville. I didn’t find a hint of this event on their calendar, and from the website they look like a pretty orthodox place (for ECUSA). Nothing on the UCC page either, and there doesn’t seem to be a Unitarian church in Brecksville. Perhaps they’re renting a VFW hall?

Justasinner, suing ECUSA would be “meet and right so to do”, given that they’ve sued every one of their (former) parishes that has elected to be true to their faith. However, I’m really not sure there are adequate legal grounds, given that this charade is protected by the 1st Amendment.

I suspect a “photo free zone in the balcony” is a location where people way too embarrassed to admit they are there can sit. I’m sure they don’t kneel.

Most Catholic priests are ordained at about the age of 26. Why is it that wymenpriests seem to be at or near retirement age. Probably because they are on a pension and won’t need contributions from a puny congregation to support them.

Is there a trend of those who are so adamant about “ordination” being ex-nuns? I think I’ve heard that scenario mentioned a few times, and the one here follows in that pattern. She is also well past the usual retirement age and used to be the DRE of a large parish around here. I have met her and she is rather likeable, but heaven only knows the damage she has done, particularly I would think, as a DRE.

As far as reading at Mass goes, she will no longer be doing it…but I am really curious as to why her husband was reading in the first place. I’d like to see the letter dismissing him from the clerical state, because generally Rome puts restrictions on the former cleric in order to make known how serious this is and to avoid confusion on the part of the faithful.
The news report drove me bonkers. No, she didn’t become a priest. Isn’t it irrational call yourself Catholic at the same time you profess something that runs counter to Catholic teaching?

Please be advised that Ms. Mary F. Keldermans of Springfield, Illinois, has attempted to be ordained a priest for “Roman Catholic Womenpriests, Inc.” in a ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Springfield on May 5, 2014. As a result, she has incurred an automaticexcommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

Please note also that a schismatic group called “Holy Family Inclusive Catholic Community” is being formed here in Springfield and is planning to conduct liturgical services at the Congregational Church UCC, West College Avenue, Jacksonville, Illinois.

The Christian faithful are cautioned that this attempted ordination and these purported “Masses” are invalid. Those who knowingly and intentionally participate in these schismatic activities also incur automatic excommunication in accord with canons 751 and 1364, with due regard for canons 1321-1324 of the Code of Canon Law.

Abe–thank you for answering a question I had about whether Catholics who attend these events are excommunicated. It seems that many who attend do not want to be photographed–because they don’t want to be identified as having been present. That’s probably the reason for the “photo-free zone” in the balcony. I think it is necessary for bishops to imitate Bishop Paprocki and publish decrees of excommunication–“latae sententiae” notwithstanding. Maybe some of those attending should also be publicly excommunicated as well so that the message gets out there.

Sent the following to the UCC Pastor whose church is being used as the venue for this travesty (with a link to the invitation):
Dear Rev. XXX- as a Roman Catholic, I am disappointed to see that you are allowing your facility to be used by a faux-Catholic group to perform ersatz “ordinations” of individuals who will thereafter present themselves as genuine Catholic priests. Our priesthood is very precious to us, its having been been instituted by our Lord Himself. Therefore, we see this event as a mockery and a most serious insult to our holy rites. How anyone with a shred of respect for the sensitivities of Catholics faithful to their Church would associate himself with it is hard to understand.
I respectfully ask that you cease and desist from allowing such sacrileges to occur on your property. These people of course have the right to be as ill-behaved as they please knowing however they incur immediate and automatic excommunication from the Church. We do not take lightly however that other, non-Catholic groups such as yours aid and abet their aping our Holy Sacraments.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Scott Tenney, Sr.

Long-time occasional lurker here; first time poster (never had to answer an interview question to post on a blog before… I like it).

Nativity happens to be my neighborhood parish, which took me off guard a bit to see it featured in a Fr. Z post about women’s ordination. It’s two blocks away, so my wife and I used to walk there for 11am Mass if our lazy Sunday morning with home-made biscuits or pancakes failed to accommodate our parish’s 10am Mass. That was until a lector there chose to proclaim her own translation of the Epistle reading, by changing all the male pronouns to gender neutral terms. I can’t say if we were there on January 26 or if she was the same person who attempted ordination, but the puzzle pieces would fit.

Interestingly, the pastor of Nativity seemed to consistently work something pro-life into his homilies, and he doesn’t do much funny business with the liturgy himself. Whether that mis-reading incident was a regular occurrence or a one-off thing that he corrected, I don’t know. And guess we won’t find out since we’ve learned our lesson: No more lazy Sunday mornings.

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